Thank you for your continued prayers throughout another week. Dad and I enjoyed a few days away in England....our first holiday in quite a long time! William also had some time off with his family.The market was open as usual, though it was very quiet with a lot of people still away on holiday.We have received the teaching materials we had mentioned last week and are delighted with them. We know they will be of good use in Africa.Today we received some really good news regarding Bibles. A large quantity will be available very soon for collection in Kenya and we won't have to wait for a few months to have them shipped as originally anticipated. More Bibles are available in Kenya than what we have funds for, so we are praying that God will make up the small shortfall and enable us to get the extra.We have another urgent need in Kenya at the moment and are praying that God will provide very definitely for this requirement. The amount needed is around £150 (Ksh 18000) and we would ask you to pray that this is provided as soon as possible.Some members of our team and friends in Kenya are in financial need at the moment too because of illness etc. We are so thankful that God knows all about this and we leave it with Him to provide for each individual and family.I am looking forward to being back into the office this week in the evenings and pray for God's guidance for all we need to do over the coming weeks. We need to do some preparation for the Missionary Convention we will attend at the end of August in regard to publicity material and information about our work. We also are looking forward to working on our own teaching materials and the next assignment in our email course is due to be sent out.Please continue to pray that God will lead and guide in the coming days.

We thank God for the news of another 150 children starting our lessons this week in Western province, Kenya. We pray for the salvation of these children.We are grateful that someone has offered to give us some teaching materials that they have no need of. We look forward to be able to bring these to Africa.The market reopened this weekend again after the holidays. It was a quieter weekend than normal as many people are still away, but we thank God for His help.We give God thanks for His hand upon those we mentioned who have been sick. We were able to enjoy visits to my uncle and to Billy this week and thank God for His continued help. William's grandmother is still in hospital but has made some improvement. Joyce's little girl Blessing was very sick, but God has touched her and Pastor Aringo is delighted that his wife and son are feeling better after being very unwell all week. Please also continue to remember Joyce's sister Dorine. We are conscious that sometimes the devil can use sickness among our loves ones and friends to bring pressure and to distract from the work of God.Being unwell is a massive pressure for any family, but we especially remember our brothers and sisters in Kenya and Uganda....to be sick there means a huge fianancial burden. Please remember the needs.Please pray for a Pastor friend of ours from a Church in Kibera slums. He lost his neice on 27th June, but as of a few days ago, the family had still not been able to bury her because of lack of finance. This a huge pressure on the family. We have faced this situation many times with many of our friends and ask you to pray for them.This past week we have been able to see in a small way, one reason why God has kept us at home at the minute rather than having been in Kenya. We feel that He has been in control of situations that we knew nothing about. Pray that we will continue to know His leading.We have often been conscious of those who have sought, by dishonest means, to gain money from us or just simply to try and bring the ministry down. Time and time again God has revealed to us what has been going on, and we have again realised this week that some people have been up to no good. Pray that God will continue to give us much wisdom and discernment so that the work of God does not suffer at the hands of sinful men.I am looking forward to having a few days off this week before we open the stall again on Friday. August will be a busy month as we hope to get stuck in to developing our teaching materials and working alongside the artist from Kenya. Please remember our email course. The latest assignment is due to be submitted now by the students and the next one will be sent out at the beginning of the month. We are also looking forward to being at the Bangor Missionary Convention during the last week of August and ask for your prayers as we prepare leaflets and information for our stand over the next few weeks.We also continue to pray for wisdom as we make big decisions and seek God's will regarding the purchase of the land in Kenya. We know that God will not lead us down a wrong path.Thank you once more for your prayers. We appreciate your support more than words can say.

It has been a strange week for us here in Northern Ireland. Some disappointment that we are not in Africa, yet knowing that God has a reason for it. I haven't been in the office as such, but have still been doing some FML work and my head has at times been spinning with facts, figures, information and excitment as we plan for the future. We continue to be ready to head to Kenya at short notice over the next few weeks, but failing that I will be working less hours this week and will take all of the following week off.The market was closed this weekend past due to the holidays, but will reopen this coming Friday 20th and Saturday 21st again as normal.Please continue to pray that God will provide every need. We have had a number of gifts designated to Bibles etc. and we are delighted with this, but we now have some allowances, office rent and other things due and are asking that you remember these needs in your prayers also.Our hearts are heavy at the moment for those dear to us who are unwell. My uncle, dad's brother, remains stable for the moment yet his illness is terminal. Billy, who helped on the stall along with his wife and has been one of our main prayer supporters, is having great difficulty with his breathing and needs our prayers. William's maternal grandmother has also taken ill and I am sure the family would appreciate prayer for her too.Earlier today I read these words from Corrie Ten Boom...“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” What a timely reminder to us to keep trusting the Lord as we go through times of uncertainty, sickness and testing. God is faithful.

As mentioned last week, God had provided for us to purchase some Bibles. A small quantity is now ready for collection in a Bible Bookshop in Nairobi and the remainder will be sent out in a container.We have made great progress with the illustrator/artist this week and it seems that everything that was discussed has now been agreed and we look forward to getting to work on our materials in the coming weeks.The market was steady this weekend and we thank God again for His help. It will be closed next weekend due to holidays here in Northern Ireland.We had hoped that we would have been in Africa by now, but unforseen circumstances have hindered us from travelling. We are seeking the Lord as to when we should go and will keep you updated.I will be out of the office for most days over the next few weeks on my annual leave, but hope to still reply to most emails and keep the blog updated.Meanwhile, the work continues in Africa. Below are two photos that Pastor Aringo sent to us yesterday. One shows some chidren receiving Bibles and the other shows one of our workers marking away in our office.....with the Kenyan and Ugandan flags proudly flying! (Click on each photo to enlarge them)

Thank you for your prayers over another week, we always value the support of God's people.

I was able to make really good progress with our email course this week. Due to computer problems and other issues, we had fallen behind with the course, but I was able to get everything up to date this week and sent out the latest assignment. I was also able to write a later section of the course and to contact each student individually with a review of their marks up to date and also tried to encourage those who have missed sections to complete them as soon as possible and get them submitted. Please pray this course will continue to be of benefit to the students.We had a strange week at the market. It was very quiet and there weren't many people around as we enter into holiday season, but we sold a number of bigger, more expensive items and so financially we did better than the past few weeks.We would especially give thanks to God for His provision this week for Bibles. We received gifts from a few people which were designated for buying Bibles. These gifts will allow us to purchase around 340 copies of the Word of God. Most will be purchased from Every Home Crusade and sent out to Kenya in their next container. It will probably take a few months for them to arrive. We also hope to purchase a small amount in Nairobi. Although these are more expensive it will mean that some will be available for immediate use. We are so excited at this development.We have been making some progress this week in regard to getting pictures illustrated in order to produce our own teaching materials for children's workers and are quite excited that this will be the next big project for us. Pray that I will know for definite which Bible stories to use for our first set of lessons.Please continue to pray for us as we continue to press ahead in regard to purchasing land in Kenya. These past few days we have began to feel that the Lord has been making things a little clearer for us in regard to this and we appreciate prayer for wisdom in every decision which is made.Finally we would ask you to pray earnestly and urgently in regard to our next trip to Africa. We are praying that we can travel quite soon. We have run into a problem with our flights and are desperately trying to rebook with more suitable flights. Please pray that God will provide our every need and bring us there in HIS time.